February 21, 2025
The Vision 25 by 2025 food and nutrition security initiative has recorded major achievements, including increased production across the Region, and the implementation of key agricultural policies, the CARICOM Secretariat’s Agriculture Programme has reported.
The Initiative aims to reduce the Region’s high food import bill by 25 per cent by the end 2025.
Ms. Milagro Matus, Deputy Programme Manager, Agricultural and Agro-Industrial Development at the CARICOM Secretariat, provided an update on the Initiative during an interview prior to the Forty-Eighth Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM. The Meeting will be held in Bridgetown, Barbados, 19 – 21 February 2025, under the Chairmanship of the Hon. Mia Amor Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados.
Ms. Matus pointed out that governments have increased budget allocations for agricultural development and have incorporated climate-smart project development in their planning. There has also been improvement in the adaptation of digital technologies in the sector.
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The reported successes have occurred despite the challenges in the form of natural disasters, global supply trade disruptions, and other events that were beyond the Region’s control. Hurricane Beryl, for example, which swept through the Region in July, last year, caused significant damage to the agriculture sectors of Barbados, Grenada, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.